Taika Waititi, the quarky New Zealand autor who revitalized the Thor franchise with 'Ragnarock' in 2017, returns to the directors chair to give us a kind of warmed over, more jokey, more sentimental version of that movie. Liam Hemsworth's Thor and the various supporting characters, including the Waititi voiced Korg remain fun and likable, but static.
An attempt is made to bring stakes to the film beyound it's disposable bad guy (Christian Bale giving more then is necessary because he's a commited professional), by bringing Thor love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) back into the picture. She's suffering from cancer now, but also becomes a female Thor (a nod to recentish developments in the comics), which might help or might hurt the spread of the disease.
The Guardians of the Galaxy appear early in the film and are given notaciably short shift. The bad guy of the piece is obsessed with killing "Gods" because one let his daughter die, so this is a comic book version of a faith deconstruction naritive as villain origin story, I'd like to read Dawkins review.
I liked some things in the film, including what feels like a 'Shazam' influnced part of the ending, that reminds one that comic book stories were originally supposed to be for kids. Russell Crowe, now firmly ensconced in the "pityable figure" part of his career, appears as Zeus, the best part of his performance was that accent.
There have been so many of these Marvel movies that it is simply hard for them to impress anymore. The mid and post credit sequences where they tease further films now bring more of a sense of dread and resignation then excitmen. 'Love and Thunder' is another reasonably well executed brick in the wall. **1/2
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